THE YAKUZA (1975) (Blu-ray Review)

THE YAKUZA (1975)

Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: A
Duration: 112 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 with Optional English subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.4:1)
Director: Sydney Pollack
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Takakura Ken, Brian Keith, Herb Edelman, Ric, Richard Jordan, Kishi Keiko, James Shigeta 

Synopsis: Former private eye Harry Kilmer knows a lot about Japan — and the gangsters who keep an iron grip on its gambling, prostitution and protection rackets. He knows there’s a right way to approach the brutal underworld. And he knows there’s one thing powerful mobsters respect: greater power. Robert Mitchum is Kilmer in this haunting East-meets-West-head-on thriller powered by a team of heavy Hollywood hitters: writers Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) and Robert Towne (Chinatown) and director Sydney Pollack (The Interpreter). Costarring Japan’s Takakura Ken and veteran character actor Brian Keith, The Yakuza is a modern film noir in which honor and loyalty become issues of life and death. Violence erupts with the speed of a Tokyo-bound bullet train. And the last thing to die is tradition.

In Sydney Pollack's 70's yakuza flick we have an retired P.I. named Harry Kilmer (Robert Mitchum, The Night of The Hunter) being called on by an old army buddy,  crooked businessman George Tanner (Brian Keith), whose daughter has been kidnapped by yakuza gangster, Tono (Eiji Okada), after a shady arms deal tasked to Tanner went South, and the gangster is none too pleased by Tanner's cavalier attitude about the loss. 

Tanner calls on Kilmer's hoping his history and connections in Japan will  bring his daughter back to him. Both Kilmer and Tanner had been stationed in Tokyo during the post-war occupation, where Kilmer fell in love with a black market runner named Eiko (Keiko Kishi, Kwaidan). They become lovers but Eiko refused to marry Kilmer for unknown reasons. It was during this time in the past that Eiko's brother Ken (Ken Takakura, Black Rain)returned to Tokyo, having been stranded on an island during the war as an Imperial Soldier. Ken is outraged that his sister has fallen in love with an American G.I. - the enemy - and breaks off all relations with her, but he is conflicted, also swearing a life-long, unpayable debt to Kilmer, who saved his sister's life and that of her young daughter during the occupation. Ken joined the Yakuza shortly after and disappeared into the Tokyo underworld, becoming something of a legendary swordsman. 

Kilmer boards a flight to Tokyo with a bodyguard named Dusty (Richard Jordan, Logan's Run), arriving in Tokyo they stay with another old army buddy named Oliver (Herb Edelman), a Japanese scholar and collector of some wicked Japanese weaponry. Kilmer visits Eiko after a twenty-year absence looking for her brother, the reunion is bittersweet, the emotion between the two is thick enough to cut with a knife, he is also reunited with her now grown daughter, Hanako (Christina Kokubo ). 

Through Eiko Kilmer tracks Ken to a kendo school in Kyoto, we learn that he has not been a part of the Yakuza for many years, he is a peaceful man but he is also honor-bound to help Kilmer free the daughter of Tanner when called upon. The rescue mission results in the death of Yakuza soldiers, and a price is put on the heads of Kilmer and Ken, we also learn of a double-cross, and the two honor-bound men must fight their way to the top of the Yakuza food chain, arriving at Tono's residence, facing off against two dozen highly skilled yakuza soldiers, Ken with his katana blade and Kilmer with his shotgun!   

Having never watched this I must say that I was surprised by the sophistication of the story, which was written by screenwriters Paul Schrader (Hardcore) and Robert Town (Chinatown). There's a lot of attention to the detail of Yakuza culture, and to the honor, tradition and ceremony of Japanese society, this is no simple exploitation flick. That's not to say we don't get a bucket load of violence, we do, it's well-paced and tightly executed. The violence comes in short spurts, the stakes are high and lives that matter are lost. It's bloody but not Kill Bill/Tarantino high pressured Asians bloody, but we have dismemberment and decapitations, multiple instances of yubitsume, wherein a subordinate will ritually sever their pinky finger as a showing of remorse/respect, there's even a touching pinky severing that crosses cultures. 

I've always found Robert Mitchum sort of, not bland, but not deep either, however, I think his quite/cool works remarkably well in this movie, as an American with a deep understanding of Japanese culture he expresses as much in quiet ways, it really comes through. His Japanese counterpart Ken Takakura is fantastic, while Mitchum get the more traditionally dramatic role with his love for Eiko, Takakura is a smoldering figure in his own right, burning from within with honor and vengeance, his fight scenes are fantastic with well-staged swordplay and some nice bloody blades.

One of the more gut-punch elements of this tough as nails film is a secret revealed late in the game that casts a different sort of shadow on the main cast of characters, it's a whopper, and the build-up and reveal are expertly staged. Also saddening is the death of two young lovers, cut down before it can really begin, there's a lot of depth to this one, so dig in and check this out, this might have gotten by you without notice, but it's time to take note, The Yakuza (1975)is bad ass.   

Audio/Video: The Yakuza (1975) arrives on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive with a brand new 2017 HD remaster, looking mighty spiffy. 
The sources is in grand condition, grain is nicely managed and the colors are vibrant. Black levels on the Blu-ray are pleasing as are the fine details and textures throughout. Audio on the disc s handled by a capable DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track with optional English subtitles. The Dave Grusin score, dialogue and effects sounds just fine. Extras on the set include a vintage 20-min making of featurette, trailer and an audio commentary with Director Sydney Pollack.  

Special Features: 
- Commentary by Director Sydney Pollack
- Featurette - Promises to Keep (20 min) HD
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD

This was a first time watch for me, I found it enthralling, the honor-bound story and mix of East meets West action is fantastic and
the drama and swordplay are top-notch! 3.5/5 

Blu-ray Review: DEAD MAN (1995)

DEAD MAN (1995)

Label: Echo Bridge Entertainment
Region Code: Region A
Rating: R
Duration: 121 mins
Video: 1080p 16x9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Johhny Depp, Gary Framer, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Euegen Byrd, Mili Aviatal, Crispin Glover, Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thornton, Jared Harris, Gabriel Byrne, Robert Mitchum, John Hurt, Alfred Molina

In Jim Jarmucsh's black and white acid-western DEAD MAN Johnny Depp (THE NINTH GATE) portrays William Blake, a young accountant from Cleveland who packs his bags and embarks on a journey to start life anew in the Western frontier town of Machine where he has been offered a job at the Dickinson Metal Works. On the train ride from to Machine the soft-handed city rube sticks out like a sore thumb among the Western frontier folk and rugged buffalo hunters who shoot buffalo from the train. The ride gets weirder when the trains soot covered coal shoveler (Crispin Glover, RIVER'S EDGE) enters the car and sits across from Blake offering a cryptic foretelling of doom.

Arriving in Machine young Blake walks into the metal works where he is informed by the business manager (John Hurt, ALIEN) that he's a month late and the position is no longer available. Blake demands to talk with the Mr.  Dickinson (Robert Mitchum, CAPE FEAR) who promptly drives him off the property at the business end of a double-barrel shotgun. With no job prospects and dwindling funds Blake wanders the grim streets of Machine until he comes to a saloon where he makes the acquaintance of young prostitute named Thel (Mili Avital) who take him home to her bed where her jealous ex-lover Charlie (Gabriel Byrne, MILLER'S CROSSING) bursts into the room and fires upon Blake but Thel throws herself in front of the bullet which kills her and strikes Blake in the chest. Blake grabs the woman's gun and kills Charlie, wounded and dazed he escapes through a window and leaves town on the back of a stolen pony. As it turns out Charlie was the son of Mr. Dickinson and the wealthy factory owner places a large bounty on the head of Blake for the murder of his son and even lays the death of Thel on him, too. Three cold-blooded killers are hired to hunt down Blake; Conway Twill (Michael Wincott, CURTAINS) and Johnny "The Kid" Pickett (Eugene Byrd, TV's BONES) and a cannibalistic psychopath named Cole Wilson (Lance Henriksen, ALIENS).

Blake awakens the next day to the sight of an American Indian calling himself Nobody (Gary Farmer, GHOST DOG) performing surgery on his chest wound but he tells Blake that the bullet is too close to his heart and that death is a certainty. Nobody believes that Blake is the reincarnation of the poet William Blake and that he will accompany him to the Pacific Ocean so that he can return his spirit to it's proper place in the spirit world. The Native American outcast acts as Blake's guide to the cleansing waters of the West. The duo amass quite a bodycount in their wake as they encounter many would-be bounty hunters and scoundrels on their path.

The film is certainly a strange beast and has a surreal disconnect that lends an existential quality to Blake's doomed journey through what I would call  purgatory. The setting is pure authentic Western and evokes the scent of sawdust and woodsmoke. The film boasts a stellar supporting actors that includes screen legend Robert Mitchum in his final performance plus a cast of gristle-faced characters whose craggy features drink up Robby Muller's (TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., REPO MAN)  black and white cinematography. There are also notable appearance from rocker Iggy Pop (HARDWARE) as the deranged bible-thumping transvestite leader of a trio of fur traders that includes a pre-SLING BLADE Billy Bob Thornton, and speaking of craggy faces there's also a came from Gibby Haines of the Butthole Surfers, it's quite a cast of characters we have here.

The film operates on several levels ranging from the existential to referential, particularly the the poems of William Blake in much the same way that the Coen Brother's O, BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? mined Ulysses' The Odyssey but I really just enjoy it as a trippy western that tends to defy expectations at every turn. I tend not to read too much into it I just enjoy it but the subtext is there for those of who looking for something deeper.The film was a major disappointment at the box office in '95 when it was released, returning only a ninth of it's budget, apparently 1995 wasn't a great time for a black and white western revival but this is a film that a lot of folks missed the first time around and I say it's well worth a watch whether you be a fan of Depp, Jarmusch or just really awesome Westerns.   

Blu-ray: Echo Bridge's 16x9 enhanced 1.78:1 widescreen AVC encoded HD transfer does the film proper justice. The black and white imagery looks great in 1080p with a nice retention of the film's natural grain structure without the disservice of DNR scrubbing, it looks pretty great. The transfer offers good contrast, decent black levels and fine detail; facial hair, clothing and other textures are nicely resolved. A definite improvement over the previous DVD edition. The DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 sounds quite good, too. Dialogue is crisp and there are no distortions that I could discern plus Neil Young's amazing score soars throughout the film. I will say that a more atmospheric 5.1 surround mix could have gone a long way but what we have here is very nice. Special features are few but are at least present, the previous Miramax titles from Echo Bridge have been mostly bereft of bonus content and this is a most welcome exception. What we get are a selection of standard definition letterboxed deleted scenes and a Neil Young music video featuring in-studio footage of him performing the song with a montage of clips from the film overlayed with Johnny Depp narrating William Blake's poetry. I believe that the only feature not carried over from the previous Miramax edition is a theatrical trailer.

Special Features:
- Deleted Scenes (15:54)
- Neil Young Music Video (3:31)

Verdict: DEAD MAN is a film just not mentioned enough when discussing the careers of Johnny Depp, Jim Jarmusch or just kick ass Westerns in general. The mid-nineties weren't exactly a golden age of cinema so don't let this one sink into obscurity, if you haven't seen it you are missing out on what I would call a must-see, strange and offbeat western that stands aside GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI as one of my favorite Jim Jarmusch films.